Payne Lindsey is an American director, documentary filmmaker, Right Side of the Tree lead singer and podcast host. He is best known for co-creating and hosting the hit investigative journalist and true crime podcasts '' Up and Vanished'' and '' Atlanta Monster''.

Early life

Lindsey was born and raised in

Kennesaw, Georgia Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its ...

. He obtained his first video camera at age 10 and later directed local television commercials and music videos. As a child, he wanted to direct feature films. Lindsey made a 13-minute documentary film about people that he met on a cross-country road trip and entered it into festivals. He attended college on and off for a few years, but hated school. At age 23, his dad cut him off and he began focusing on creating and directing videos.

Career

''Up and Vanished''

In December 2015, Netflix released ''

Making a Murderer ''Making a Murderer'' is an American true crime documentary television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The show tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in pris ...

''. Lindsey watched the show and realized that he wanted to do something similar. With an early interest in investigative journalism, Lindsey was inspired to investigate the disappearance of beauty queen and school teacher Tara Grinstead, a well-known cold case in Georgia. At the time, Lindsey's intentions were to develop Grinstead's story into a documentary film, but he realized he did not have the funds to film interviews on location. Lindsey realized that he "could produce a podcast at home in my boxers," and created '' Up and Vanished''. Lindsey did not have access to police files, so instead scoured through old news articles and online forums to hunt out possible leads. Lindsey's grandmother lived in

Tifton, Georgia Tifton is a city in Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Tift County. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District. Abraham Baldwin Ag ...

, near

Ocilla The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is United States federal law that creates a conditional 'safe harbor' for online service providers (OSP) (a group which includes internet service providers (ISP) and other Inter ...

, where Grinstead had gone missing. Lindsey broadcast in real-time, week by week, in audio form. Within a 12-month period the podcast received over 50 million downloads, which propelled Grinstead's case into the mainstream media. This helped uncover previously unnoticed evidence which lead to the decade-old case being cracked and two arrests made. Lindsey began podcasting full time once ''Up and Vanished'' increased in popularity. A second season of ''Up and Vanished'' covered the

disappearance of Kristal Reisinger Kristal Anne Reisinger is a resident of Crestone, Colorado who has been missing since July 13, 2016. A mother of one, Reisinger relocated to Crestone from Denver in order to achieve Enlightenment (spiritual), enlightenment and sobriety. While in ...

Tenderfoot TV

After ''Up and Vanished'', together with his business partner Donald Albright, Lindsey launched the content creation company Tenderfoot TV which is based in Atlanta. Together with Tenderfoot TV and

Oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

Lindsey and Albright developed a TV docu-series from ''Up and Vanished''. As of January 2020, Oxygen and Tenderfoot TV are working to develop a television special about Kristal Reisinger which will be produced by Lindsey. In addition to ''Up and Vanished'' and ''Atlanta Monster'', Tenderfoot TV also produced the podcasts '' To Live and Die in L.A.'', ''

Culpable In criminal law, culpability, or being culpable, is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held morally or legally responsible for action and inaction. It has been noted that the word, culpability, "ordinarily ha ...

'', and ''Somebody''. Meredith Stedman is the Creative Producer at the company. As of June 2019, the company had over 400 million total downloads for its podcasts. Tenderfoot TV is represented by

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

''Atlanta Monster''

In early 2018, in partnership with

HowStuffWorks HowStuffWorks is an American commercial infotainment website founded by professor and author Marshall Brain, to provide its target audience an insight into the way many things work. The site uses various media to explain complex concepts, termin ...

, Lindsey launched '' Atlanta Monster'', a new podcast about the infamous

Atlanta Child Murders Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, which occurred between 1979 - 1981 with over 25 victims murdered in Atlanta. Lindsey had never heard of the case until his business partner, Donald Albright, told him about the murders. Lindsey hosted the podcast and conducted the interviews featured on the podcast. The podcast had over 70 million downloads.

''Radio Rental''

In fall 2019, Payne Lindsey announced and released the first episode of a new podcast that features true stories with a fictional backdrop, ''Radio Rental''. Lindsey asked Atlanta citizens to reach out and share the paranormal and scary stories to share on the podcast. The podcast is hosted by a fictional character, a 1980s-era video store employee named Terry Carnation, played by

Rainn Wilson Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Emm ...

. Lindsey and Wilson connected after Wilson tweeted that he loved Lindsey's podcast, ''Atlanta Monster''.

Personal life

Lindsey is from Georgia and resides in Atlanta. In September 2016, Lindsey married Cassie House. According to the ''Up and Vanished'' website, Lindsey has a brother, Mason Lindsey, who works as a producer for Tenderfoot TV. He is the cousin of 98.5 The Sports Hub radio host Rich Shertenlieb.

Filmography

* ''Just Like You'' (2014) * ''Our People'' (2015) * ''Thank Yo Mamma'' (2015) * ''Up and Vanished: The TV Show'' (2018)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsey, Payne Living people 1987 births American documentary filmmakers American male journalists American podcasters People associated with true crime